Revision 559932751 of "Jerry Beck" on enwiki

{{multiple issues
|BLP sources=March 2008
|like resume=March 2008}}
{{Infobox person
| image         =
| imagesize     = 
| caption       = 
| birthname     = 
| birth_date    = {{birth date and age|1955|2|9|mf=yes}}
| birth_place   = 
| alma_mater    = [[School of Visual Arts]]
| yearsactive   = 1978-present
| occupation    = Animation historian, writer
}}
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:Jerrybeck.jpg|thumb|right|Jerry Beck]] -->
'''Jerry Beck''' (born February 9, 1955) is an [[Animated cartoon|animation]] historian,<ref name="urlU.S. anime industry mourns pioneers death - Hawaii Features - Starbulletin.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.starbulletin.com/features/20100425_US_anime_industry_mourns_pioneers_death.html |title=U.S. anime industry mourns pioneer's death - Hawaii Features - Starbulletin.com |work= |accessdate=2010-04-27}}</ref> and author. He is also an animation producer, an industry consultant to [[Warner Bros.]], and has been an executive with [[Nickelodeon (TV channel)|Nickelodeon]] and [[The Walt Disney Company|Disney]].

==Biography==
Jerry Beck graduated [[John Bowne High School]] in Queens, New York City, where he was a member of the staff of ''Opus'', the school's [[yearbook]]. While at Bowne, he was also developing his own comic art style as well as a keen interest in animated films and film in general. After high school, Beck studied at The [[School of Visual Arts]] in [[New York City]] intent on becoming a great [[animator]]. But his interest in animation's history led him to working with [[Leonard Maltin]], becoming his research associate on the landmark book, ''Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons''. In the course of doing this work, Beck became well versed in the histories and films of every Hollywood cartoon studio.

===Early career===
Beck began his career in the film industry at [[United Artists]] in 1978, working with the [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM/UA]] film library as a salesman in the non-theatrical division.

In 1981, Beck teamed with colleague [[Will Friedwald]] to produce the filmography ''The Warner Brothers {{sic}} Cartoons'', published by [[Scarecrow Press]]. In 1984 Beck joined [[Orion Pictures|Orion Classics]].

===Expanded Entertainment===
His interest in animation and knowledge of film distribution brought him to the attention of Terry Thoren's Expanded Entertainment company in 1986. With Beck's expertise, Expanded began distributing the ''[[International Tournee of Animation]]'', ''The Festival of [[Claymation]]'' and ''The [[Puppetoon]] Movie'' to theatres. At Expanded, Beck helped organize two animation festivals (Los Angeles Animation Celebration in 1987 and 1989) and was instrumental in the creation of [[Animation (magazine)|''Animation'' magazine]]. In addition to his writing for ''Animation'', Beck has contributed to ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'', ''[[Hollywood Reporter]]'', ''[[Video Business]]'', ''The Whole Toon Catalog'', ''Animation Blast'', ''[[Animato!]]'', ''[[Wild Cartoon Kingdom]]'' and the on-line ''[[Animation World Network|Animation World Magazine]]''.

===Warner Bros.===

===Teacher===
Recognized as an authority on animation, Beck taught a nine-week course at the [[UCLA]] Extension on "Animation: The State of the Art" in 1992 and conducted seminars on "The History of the Hollywood Cartoon" for the [[American Film Institute]] in 1994. In 1995 Beck taught "The History of Animation" at [[NYU]] and in the spring of 1996 taught "Promotion for Animation" at the [[School of Visual Arts]]. He was a founding member of the [[Cartoon Network]] advisory board in 1993, and serves on the board of directors of [[ASIFA-Hollywood]], a chapter of (The [[International Animated Film Association]]). Beck is currently teaching animation history at Woodbury University in Burbank, CA.

===The 1990s===
In the 1990s, Beck co-produced a successful series of [[laserdisc]] compilations for [[MGM/UA Home Video]], including ''The Golden Age of [[Looney Tunes]]'', ''The Compleat [[Tex Avery]]'' and ''The Art of [[Tom & Jerry]]'', and he has programmed over 100 video tape collections. He has been an animation consultant to [[Walt Disney Home Video]], [[Warner Home Video]], [[Rhino Records]] and [[Republic Pictures|Republic Entertainment]] (curating the best-selling ''[[Betty Boop]]: The Definitive Collection'').

More recently, Beck compiled the 15 volume sets of ''Looney Tunes: The Collector’s Edition'' and ''Woody Woodpecker and Friends: The Collectors Edition'' for [[Columbia House]]. He also co-produced ''Somewhere in Dreamland: The Definitive Max Fleischer Color Classics'' for [[VCI Entertainment]]. He is now a consulting producer for the annual DVD compilation ''[[Looney Tunes Golden Collection]]''.

===Streamline Pictures===
In 1989, Beck partnered with producer [[Carl Macek]] to form [[Streamline Pictures]]. Streamline was the first company devoted to importing Japanese animation and distributing anime to North American theatres, television and home video. Among Streamline's many titles were ''[[Akira (film)|Akira]]'', ''[[Fist of the North Star]]'', ''[[Vampire Hunter D]]'', ''[[Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water]]'', ''[[Wicked City (film)|Wicked City]]'', ''[[Robotech]]'', and ''[[Robot Carnival]]''. Beck also co-produced the 1993 Fox English language version of ''[[My Neighbor Totoro]]'' and compiled ''[[Speed Racer|Speed Racer: The Movie]]'' for Family Home Entertainment.

Beck parted with Streamline in 1993 to pursue other areas of animation. He became [[executive producer]] of ''[[The Baby Huey Show]]'' for [[Harvey Entertainment|The Harvey Entertainment Company]] Beck then joined [[Nickelodeon Movies]] as Vice President of Animation. At Nickelodeon, Beck was instrumental in developing ''[[The Rugrats Movie]]'', and the unfinished ''[[Mighty Mouse]]'' and ''[[The Stinky Cheese Man]]''.

===Late 1990s===
From September 1997 through April 1998, Beck had an exclusive consulting and development deal with [[Walt Disney Television Animation]]. Also in 1997, Beck formed Cartoon Research Co. to write books, consult on animation projects, compile [[compact disc]]s, [[DVD]]s and home video products, supply cartoon [[stock footage]] and develop new features and TV series. More recently, Beck compiled the 15 volume sets of ''Looney Tunes: The Collector’s Edition'' and ''Woody Woodpecker and Friends: The Collectors Edition'' for [[Columbia House]]. He also co-produced ''Somewhere in Dreamland: The Definitive Max Fleischer Color Classics'' for [[VCI Entertainment]]. He is now a consulting producer for the annual DVD compilation ''[[Looney Tunes Golden Collection]]''.

In 1999, Beck produced ''Totally Tooned In'' for [[Columbia TriStar Television|Columbia Tri-Star International Television]], a 65-episode series that restored the Columbia theatrical cartoon library; and for [[Cartoon Network]] wrote and co-produced the special ''Toonheads: The Lost Cartoons''.

Beck was co-creator, co-producer and co-writer of ''Karen and Kirby'' for Warner Bros. Television Animation. Thirteen ''Karen and Kirby'' [[interstitial program|interstitials]]s were produced and were shown on [[Kids' WB]]'s ''[[The Big Cartoonie Show]]''.

===Writer===
Beck was the West Coast Bureau Chief for ''[[KidScreen]]'' magazine for one year (July 2000 through July 2001), and co-wrote the 2001 Cartoon Network special ''Toonheads: The Wartime Cartoons''. Beck also co-wrote ''Toonheads: The 12 Missing Hares'' and ''Toonheads: The Worst Cartoons Ever'' (both projects were shelved). In 2002, Beck became a writer/producer for Rubberbug Animation, which produced an award winning educational DVD project named ''algebra'school''.

===Current activities===
Beck's six minute cartoon short ''Hornswiggle'', produced by [[Frederator Studios]], aired as part of the ''[[Random! Cartoons]]'' series December 20, 2008 on [[Nicktoons Network]]. From 2007 through 2012, Beck collaborated with ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]''{{'}}s [[Frank Conniff]] to produce ''Cartoon Dump'' as a monthly live comedy show at the [[The Steve Allen Theater]] in Hollywood. At the same venue the first Thursday of each month he screens a selection of classic short films and cartoons as part of a program of live, late twenties/early 30s jazz music performed by Janet Klein and her Parlor Boys. He has also programmed and hosted programs at the [[American Cinematheque]], [[Annecy International Animated Film Festival]], [[Ottawa International Animation Festival]], [[Los Angeles County Museum of Art]] and [[Cinefamily]] and provided advice regarding appropriate classic cartoons to accompany features screening during a film noir festival in 2010 at the [[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]].<ref>[http://www.cartoonbrew.com/events/film-noir-cartoons-at-the-academy-22238.html Film Noir Cartoons at the Academy]</ref> On October 21, 2012 he co-hosted with [[Robert Osborne]] a program of rare animation features and shorts on [[Turner Classic Movies]].<ref>[http://www.cartoonbrew.com/classic/why-animation-on-tcm-is-important-71998.html Why Animation on TCM is Important]</ref>

An annual show of Worst Cartoons has become a Friday night staple of [[Comic-Con International]], drawing an audience of over a thousand to watch Beck's latest selection of terrible but commercially distributed television cartoon series episodes (mostly drawn from low budget 1960s syndicated programs).

Beck founded, with Amid Amidi, of the animation [[blog]] Cartoon Brew, from 2004 until February 12, 2013, when he departed and left Amidi solely in charge of the blog. Beck is currently writing two blogs, Cartoon Research and Animation Scoop.

==Bibliography==

===As author or editor===
* {{cite book |title= The Warner Brothers Cartoons  |last1= Friedwald |first1= Will |author1-link=Will Friedwald |last2=Beck |first2= Jerry |year= 1981 |publisher= [[Scarecrow Press]] |location= [[Metuchen, New Jersey|Metuchen, N.J.]] |isbn= 0810813963}}
* {{cite book |title= Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons |last1= Beck |first1= Jerry |last2=Friedwald |first2= Will |year= 1989 |publisher= [[Henry Holt and Company]] |location= [[New York City|New York]] |isbn=978-0-8050-0894-4}}
* {{cite book |title= "I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat": Fifty Years of [[Sylvester (Looney Tunes)|Sylvester]] and [[Tweety]] | last1=Beck | first1= Jerry |others= With [[Shalom Auslander]] | year= 1991 |publisher= Henry Holt and Company |location= New York |isbn= 0805016449}}
* {{cite book |title= [[The 50 Greatest Cartoons]]: As Selected by 1,000 Animation Professionals |last1= Beck |first1= Jerry |year= 1994 |publisher= [[Turner Entertainment|Turner Publishing]] |location= [[Atlanta]] |isbn= 187868549X}}
* {{cite book |title= Warner Bros. Animation Art: The Characters, the Creators, the Limited Editions |last1= Beck |first1= Jerry |last2=Friedwald |first2= Will |year=1997 |publisher= Hugh Lauter Levin Associates |isbn= 0883633604}}
* {{cite book |title= Looney Tunes: The Ultimate Visual Guide |last1= Beck |first1= Jerry |year= 2003 |publisher= [[Dorling Kindersley|DK Publishing]] |location= New York |isbn= 0789497581}}
* {{cite book |title= Outlaw Animation: Cutting-Edge Cartoons from the [[Spike and Mike's Festival of Animation|Spike & Mike Festivals]] |last1= Beck |first1= Beck | others= [[Foreword]] by [[Todd McFarlane]] |year= 2003 |publisher= [[Abrams Books|Harry N. Abrams]] |location= New York |isbn= 0810991519}}
* {{cite book |title= Animation Art: From Pencil to Pixel, the World of Cartoon, Anime, & CGI |editor-last= Beck |editor-first= Jerry |year= 2004 |publisher= [[HarperCollins|Harper Design International]] |location=New York |isbn= 0060737131}}
* {{cite book |title= The Animated Movie Guide |last1= Beck |first1= Jerry |year=2005 |publisher= [[Chicago Review Press]] |location= Chicago |isbn= 9781556525919}}
* {{cite book |title= [[Pink Panther (character)|Pink Panther]]: The Ultimate Guide to the Coolest Cat in Town |last1= Beck |first1= Jerry |year= 2005 |publisher= [[Dorling Kindersley|DK Publishing]] |location= New York |isbn= 0756610338}}
* {{cite book |title= The Art of [[Bee Movie]] |last1= Beck |first1= Jerry |others= Foreword by [[Jerry Seinfeld]] |year= 2007 |publisher= [[Chronicle Books]] |location= [[San Francisco]] |isbn= 9780811859516}}
* {{cite book |title= The [[Hanna-Barbera]] Treasury: Rare Art and Mementos from Your Favorite Cartoon Classics |last1= Beck |first1= Jerry |year= 2007 |publisher= Insight Editions |isbn=  9781933784281}}
* {{cite book |title= [[Nicktoons]]! | last1= Beck |first1= Jerry |year= 2007 |publisher= [[Melcher Media]] |location=New York |isbn= 9781595910431}}
* {{cite book |title= The Art of [[Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa]] |last1= Beck |first1= Jerry |others= Preface by [[Ben Stiller]] |year= 2008 |publisher= Insight Editions |isbn= 9781933784700}}
* {{cite book |title= Scooby-Doo! |last1= Beck |first1= Jerry |year= 2008 |publisher= Insight Editions |isbn= 9781933784618}}
* {{cite book |title= Tom and Jerry |last1= Beck |first1= Jerry |year= 2008 |publisher= Insight Editions |isbn= 9781933784625}}
* {{cite book |title= The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons |editor-last= Beck |editor-first = Jerry |others = Foreword by Leonard Maltin | year= 2010 |publisher= Insight Editions |isbn= 9781608870035}}
* {{cite book |title= [[The Flintstones]]: The Official Guide to the Cartoon Classic |last1= Beck |first1= Jerry |year= 2011 |publisher= [[Running Press]] |location= [[Philadelphia]] |isbn= 9780762440832}}

===As contributor===
* {{cite book |title= Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons |last1= Maltin |first1= Leonard |author1-link= Leonard Maltin |others= Research associate: Jerry Beck |year= 1980 |publisher= [[Plume (publishing)|Plume]] |isbn= 0-452-25240-7}}
* {{cite book |title= Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons |edition= Revised |last1= Maltin |first1= Leonard |author1-link= Leonard Maltin |others= Research associate: Jerry Beck |year= 1987 |publisher= [[Plume (publishing)|Plume]] |isbn= 0-452-25993-2}}
* {{cite book |title= [[Harvey Comics]] Classics Volume One: [[Casper the Friendly Ghost]] |editor-last= Cabarga |editor-first= Leslie |others= Introduction by Jerry Beck |year= 2007 | publisher= [[Dark Horse Books]] |location= [[Milwaukie, Oregon]] |isbn= 978-1-59307-781-5}}
* {{cite book |title= Harvey Comics Classics Volume Two: [[Richie Rich (comics)|Richie Rich]] the Poor Little Rich Boy  |editor-last= Cabarga |editor-first= Leslie |others= Introduction by Jerry Beck |year= 2007 | publisher= Dark Horse Books |location= Milwaukie, Oregon |isbn= 978-1-59307-848-5}}
* {{cite book |title= Harvey Comics Classics Volume Three: [[Hot Stuff the Little Devil]] |editor-last= Cabarga |editor-first= Leslie |others= Introduction by Jerry Beck |year= 2008 | publisher= Dark Horse Books |location= Milwaukie, Oregon |isbn= 978-1-59307-914-7}}
* {{cite book |title= Harvey Comics Classics Volume Four: [[Baby Huey]] the Baby Giant |editor-last= Cabarga |editor-first= Leslie |others= Introduction by Jerry Beck |year= 2008 | publisher= Dark Horse Books |location= Milwaukie, Oregon |isbn= 978-1-59307-977-2}}
* {{cite book |title= Harvey Comics Classics Volume Five: The Harvey Girls [[Little Audrey]], [[Little Dot]] & [[Little Lotta]] |editor-last= Cabarga |editor-first= Leslie |others= Introduction by Jerry Beck |year= 2009 | publisher= Dark Horse Books |location= Milwaukie, Oregon |isbn= 978-1-59582-171-3}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb name|id=0065175|name=Jerry Beck}}
* [http://www.cartoonresearch.com Jerry Beck's Cartoon Research.com]
* [http://www.cartoonbrew.com Cartoon Brew]
* [http://www.cartoondump.com/ Cartoon Dump]
* [http://www.rembrandtfilms.com/worst-cartoons-ever.htm Worst Cartoon DVD]
* [http://flipanimation.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/becks-last-brew-interview-with-jerry.html Interview with Beck at FLIP Animation Magazine] Retrieved February 2013

{{Authority control|VIAF=54263261}}

{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
| NAME              = Beck, Jerry
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION =
| DATE OF BIRTH     = February 9, 1955
| PLACE OF BIRTH    =
| DATE OF DEATH     =
| PLACE OF DEATH    =
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beck, Jerry}}
[[Category:1955 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Animation historians]]